Douglas Bowman didnt just quit any job. He left the top Web design position at arguably the most influential online company in the world. And he left the job to take on a new role at Twitter, one of the hottest start-up companies of the past few years. However, his story isnt just the typical tale of an executive hungry to launch something new. Bowmans departure and the unusual way he chose to announce it have reignited debates about the roles of gut instinct and user testing in professional Web design.

In March of 2009, Bowman published an essay to his personal Web design blog to inform friends and readers of his decision to part ways with Google. Most users associate Google with sparse, function-oriented pages. In fact, Bowman didnt join the company until it had been in business for seven years with little more than a colorful logo and a white background. However, he raised a few concerns in his post that shed some light on the Web design principles of an engineering-oriented company:

• One team tested 41 different shades of blue to discover which one performed the best
• Engineers once debated with Bowman to defend his decision over the width of a border
• Simple design decisions can be bogged down with input from numerous team members without design background

Conflicts like these emerge at most companies, especially when teams dont have professional designers on staff. According to author Jeremy Zawodny, it can be easy for sales and marketing professionals to write off Web site development specialists as "HTML monkeys," especially when current tools make design look easy and effortless. Finding the right Web design company requires understanding how basic design discipline and market research can inform good decisions, instead of creating conflicts.

Blending Solid Web Site Development with User Testing

Even some of the most strict adherents to the principles of usability testing would think that Googles "41 blues" experiment had gone a little too far. Instead, Web design companies prefer to try prospective site layouts and color combinations on test subjects who represent a clients target audience. The kinds of tests used during this portion of the Web design process can include:

• Eyetracking. Watching where users look on a page to make sure crucial site elements stand out
• Task Completion Analysis. Discovering how quickly and efficiently customers can get what they want from a web site
• Competitive Benchmarking. Putting a design head-to-head with a competitors, to make sure customers can differentiate between the two

With focused testing as part of the Web site development process, designers and their clients can arrive at more effective decisions. At the same time, most Web veterans recommend testing out new ideas on the public, even in small doses. Yahoo! regularly surprises a handful of users with test designs, on which it collects feedback to be considered for ongoing tweaking of its front page and other services.

Too much user testing can stall the process and infuriate Web design professionals like Bowman. The right amount of research may, at first appear cost prohibitive, especially when comparing quotes from Web design companies. Without direct feedback from eventual site users, a fast or cheap Web design may prevent customers from ever transacting with a business.

Sources

Fast Company

Jeremy Zawodny

Stopdesign